Fisheries and aquaculture are among India’s fastest-growing food-producing sectors, playing a vital role in livelihoods, nutrition, and trade. Over the decades, India has witnessed remarkable growth in aquatic food production that is driven by technological innovation, institutional support and proactive policy measures. Yet, the sector faces critical challenges. Overfishing, habitat degradation, water pollution and climate change are straining aquatic ecosystems. Small-scale fishers and farmers often lack access to finance, technology and markets, while poor traceability and inadequate post-harvest measures limit taping of the best export and domestic market potential and compromise food security.

On World Fisheries Day 2025 (November 21), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) calls for a renewed commitment to India’s Blue Revolution and supports the Government of India’s theme this year, which is “India’s Blue Transformation: Strengthening Value Addition in Seafood Exports”.

India’s growth in fisheries and aquaculture

According to the FAO State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) 2024, global capture fisheries produced 92.3 million tonnes in 2022, while aquaculture reached a record 130.9 million tonnes, valued at $313 billion. India contributed 10.23 million tonnes of aquatic animals, making it the world’s second-largest aquaculture producer.

India’s aquatic food production, encompassing capture fisheries and aquaculture, has risen from 2.44 million tonnes in the 1980s to 17.54 million tonnes in 2022-23. Aquaculture has emerged as one of the key driver of this growth, reflecting sectoral modernisation through advanced technologies, infrastructure and institutional support.

Agencies such as the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) fisheries institutes, Marine Products Export Development Authority, and National Fisheries Development Board have promoted innovation and best practices, while the Coastal Aquaculture Authority has regulated coastal aquaculture activities to ensure environmental compliance. The private sector has expanded investments from hatcheries to exports, reinforcing value chain efficiency.

The past decade has ushered in a new phase of transformation, beginning with India’s Blue Revolution initiative and advancing under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY). These programmes have driven production growth, particularly in inland and brackish water aquaculture, while improving safety, regulation, and resilience in fisheries.

Key reforms include vessel transponders for fisher safety, digital and credit inclusion through the Kisan Credit Card, and the establishment of Matsya Seva Kendras for integrated support. The Climate-Resilient Coastal Fishermen Villages Programme and the draft National Fisheries Policy 2020 are positive developments.

The FAO’s support across India

The FAO has been a long-standing partner in India’s fisheries and aquaculture journey, supporting the country’s transition toward sustainability and resilience. The FAO’s decades of collaboration with India have shaped policy, strengthened institutions, and advanced innovation in the sector.

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The FAO’s collaboration with India began with the Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP), one of FAO’s earliest regional small-scale fisheries initiatives. The FAO, through BOBP, has supported the Government of India in improving small-scale fishing technologies, strengthening sea safety, and enhancing post-harvest management.

The FAO’s Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) project strengthened India’s efforts to balance fisheries and conservation, supporting the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM), and National Plans of Action to combat Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, a major threat to marine ecosystems and sustainable fisheries, conserve endangered species and sustain small-scale fisheries.

To support India’s rapid strides in the field of aquaculture, the FAO is supporting a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded project in Andhra Pradesh on ‘Transforming Aquaculture to a Sustainable, Reduced Footprint and Climate-Resilient Food System’, guided by Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA) and Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture (EAA) principles. The project aims to support the Department of Fisheries, Government of Andhra Pradesh, in promoting climate-resilient, sustainable aquaculture, benefiting the State and serving as a model for India to take forward the government’s Blue Revolution.

As part of the aquatic value chain, strengthening of fishing ports and fishing harbours is also one of the main thrust areas of the Government of India. A Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) of the FAO intends to assist the Government of India to strengthen the technical capacities of fishing ports to address main environmental, social and economic challenges that affect the aquatic value chain. Two pilot fishing ports, specifically Vanakbara (Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Diu without legislation) and Jakhau in Gujarat, will benefit from this TCP that will provide them with specific strategic and operational tools to identify and formulate investments projects, whose implementation would address main challenges.

Focus on sustainability

India’s fisheries and aquaculture sectors are on a promising trajectory. Yet, sustainability must remain central. Managing fishing efforts through science-based stock assessments, promoting co-managed Monitoring Control and Surveillance (MCS) to curb IUU fishing, following Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture and embedding ecosystem-based approaches are key priorities. Strengthening certification, traceability, and digital tools — while ensuring inclusivity for smallholders — will enhance competitiveness in domestic and global markets.

The FAO remains committed to supporting India’s journey toward sustainable aquatic food systems, ensuring food and nutritional security, and reducing environmental and climate footprints, guiding India’s Blue Revolution toward a resilient and inclusive future.

Takayuki Hagiwara is the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Representative in India and part of Team UN in India

Published – November 21, 2025 12:08 am IST

A farmer spreads fertilizer in a field, at a village in Madurai.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Globally, there is a twin crisis in agriculture: in food and in fertilizers. On the one hand, there are fears of a fall in the global production and availability of food. The rise in food inflation has been an area of serious concern for the government and the Reserve Bank of India. On the other, global fertilizer prices have risen by about 200% over the past two years. Consequently, the prices of fertilizers and other farm chemicals in India have also shot up.

Domestically, the Union government has the unenviable task of explaining why it failed to double the real incomes of farmers between 2015 and 2022. Official data show that real incomes from cultivation have fallen in absolute terms after 2015. Between 2020-21 and 2022-23, annual growth rates in agriculture and allied sectors have been stagnant between 3% and 3.5%. Agricultural exports have risen, but the impact of this has been insignificant outside a handful of commodities.

Thus, the objectives of the Budget could be formulated as two-fold: one, it must have protected farmers and consumers from the food and fertilizer crises; and two, it must have taken steps to raise net incomes from cultivation.

Disappointing allocations

It was widely expected that food and fertilizer subsidies would be retained or increased. The restructuring of the food distribution guidelines, which effectively ended a part of the free supply of food grains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, was a disappointment even prior to the Budget. The Budget has reaffirmed that stance and cut food subsidy from ₹2.87 lakh crore in 2022-23 (RE) to ₹1.97 lakh crore in 2023-24 (BE). Fertilizer subsidies have also been cut from ₹2.25 lakh crore to ₹1.75 lakh crore. In effect, these cuts will expose farmers to the vagaries of the global market and render the economics of agriculture more fragile. Landless households in rural areas are also likely to be affected adversely, as the allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has been cut from ₹73,000 crore in 2022-23 (BE) to ₹60,000 crore in 2023-24 (BE).

The cut in fertilizer subsidies will increase the costs of cultivation for farmers, but there is no amelioration to be expected from a compensatory rise in output prices. The rise in minimum support prices between 2020-21 and 2021-22 just covered for the rise in input costs and did not leave any space for higher net incomes.

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There has been no solace on the production front too. Yields in agriculture remain low. Rising fertilizer prices have led to lower consumption of fertilizers in farms, leading to imbalanced nutrient application and even poorer prospects of yield rise. The government, on the other hand, has been promoting variants of “natural farming”. The Budget has even allocated ₹459 crore to a new National Mission on Natural Farming. But natural farming has no scientific validation and is likely to reduce crop yields by 25-30%. If yields fall, how can farming stay viable in the face of rising input prices and stagnant output prices?

Capital expenditure

Amidst all the talk of raising capital expenditure, agriculture presents us with a story of utter neglect. Capital investment is required in agriculture not just for irrigation but also to build/improve agricultural markets (mandis). The total capex of the government in 2022-23 was ₹7.5 lakh crore, but allocation under the capital accounts of crop husbandry, animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries was just ₹119 crore. In 2023-24, this is expected to fall to ₹84.3 crore. Under the capital account of irrigation and flood control, the budgeted allocation in 2022-23 was only ₹350 crore, which is slated to fall to ₹325 crore in 2023-24. The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) is another much-touted scheme. The budgeted allocation for AIF in 2022-23 was ₹500 crore, of which only ₹150 crore was spent. In 2023-24, the allocation of ₹500 crore has been retained.

The Finance Minister made a series of other announcements on agriculture in her speech, but the allocations for these schemes or scheme components are not listed in the Budget documents. Essentially, all these are fragmented allocations thinly spread across diverse departments with only an indirect or marginal impact on the agricultural sector. Good examples are the Agriculture Accelerator Fund, PM-Pranam, GOBARdhan, Bhartiya Prakritik Kheti Bio-Input Resource Centres, Mishti, and Amrit Dharohar. There was much time spent in the speech on millets too, but without any explicit allocation other than in upgrading a Centre for Excellence in Hyderabad. There was yet another announcement on a targeted investment of ₹6,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, but the actual increase in allocation in the Budget papers is only ₹ 121 crore.

The Budget fails to address the most pressing problems in Indian agriculture. The lack of a scientific and grounded vision, which must have ideally driven the quantum and direction of allocations, is telling.

R. Ramakumar is Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai